Driving with trainers time

I think this has more to do with the individual trainer and the individual trainee as it does company policy. Probably others can provide "numbers" per given company as "typical". But there are so many variables and the bottom line is no one who is very proficient at all required skills needs to be held back any longer than necessary, and nobody who is having a hard time picking up certain skills needs to be cut loose early to solo.

Some trainees are just faster to pick up the necessary skills than others ... some much faster, some much slower.

 

JsTrucking, please don't make a career decision based on how long you have to ride with a trainer. It only benefits you to be able to ride with a trainer. Your time with a trainer can actually be a lot of fun and I can almost guarantee that when that time is up you will be knee knocking in your truck wishing you had a little more time with them. When you go with your trainer if you feel as if they aren't training you properly or just using you for miles or just plain don't get along, then you need to make a call to your company and switch trainer. This is not a rare thing and companies expect people to not always get along and if your trainer sucks chances are they have heard about it before. So it is up to you to make sure you are getting the full benefits of going with a trainer.

I really think however that you will have a good experience.

If you do not want to heed my advice and would like to choose a company because of their training time than go to Watkins Shepard. They have absolutely no training time. You can be a complete newb and they will throw you right out into the traffic. I highly recommend you only do so if you have a trucking background though. If you can't cut the mustard out on your own or crash the truck your career will be over before it starts.

Its normal to feel a little nervous about your training. Everyone does. Make the best of it though, have a blast, and it will be over in no time! Never know, might make a good friend and end up teaming!

Good luck man....

 

Try doing a search, this has been gone over a few times. Watkins Shepard is the shortest - you have a 10 day orientation and then you're out on your own. Most of the others average 5-8 weeks with a trainer.

 

There is so much more to trucking than just driving the truck. A good trainer should be teaching you more than just driving.

 

Ah, the search feature used to use google to search but it was recently changed. I know there was a couple from a while ago but this is the only one I can find right now:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...82-what-companies-have-shortest-time-out.html

 

Would you be comfortable and know what to do if you got off the wrong exit drove 5 miles and came to a low bridge? Are your driving skills going to be sufficient enough to navigate through NYC and having to parallel park to unload your truck? Are you brave enough to drive over Cabbage or Donners with a load of beer at 79,900 at night in the fog? Do you know how to tell the guy on the dock how they should load your trailer so that you will weigh out correctly? Would you know what to do if you had to fuel in Oregon? Do you know where your tandems have to be to go into California? Do you know how to scale out your load properly?

Not giving you a hard time. Just throwing some situations at you that you will thank god you are with a trainer when they happen. Another factor is that you are going to be spending all of your time trying to figure it out, wandering around the country and not making any money. Give it some serious thought.